Emily, I really dont like your Charlie at all, declared Mum after her brief introduction to the boy her daughter was courting.
If Emily had taken a moment to heed her mothers warning or at least asked what specifically turned Mum off about the bloke she might have spotted a red flag the lovestruck teen missed. Sometimes a person is just not right, other times there are worrying habits hidden beneath the charm.
Instead, Emily brushed Mum off, launching into what she thought were perfectly sensible retorts.
You never like anyone. Thats why youre still single, even though you could have married me the whole package, Mum shot back.
You think you understand everything, Emily snorted.
And why would you assume I dont get it? Just because Im younger? Emily pressed. Im not blind; Ive seen men show interest, and they seemed decent enough. Yet you kept sending them packing without a second glance.
Without a glance? Mum mused philosophically, then cut the argument short. Thats enough, Emily. Lets drop it.
Ive given my opinion now that youve introduced Charlie to me. From here on you decide whether to listen to me or figure out for yourself whos worthy of you and who isnt.
Mother, Ill remind you that its getting late to make decisions. Im pregnant with Charlies child, and my baby wont grow up fatherless.
A chunk of Emilys resentment toward her mum stemmed from the lack of a father figure in her own life. In school shed been the only girl whose dad was missing without any respectable excuse. Two classmates had lost fathers a different story to never having one at all.
Emilys own father had been around at first, but when she was barely three, her parents split and he vanished from her life. He later claimed that if only Emily had given him a son, they could have talked about coparenting, but the girls mother had already taken the reins. Thankfully the dad paid child support faithfully, yet he never showed up for birthdays or school plays, and Emily blamed her mother for never bringing a stepdad into the picture. Perhaps a man in the house would have erased the incomplete family tag that schoolmates had once flung at her.
So Emily decided that, regardless of circumstance, the childs father would be there. Charlie wasnt perfect, but he loved Emily and would love the baby. When a paternity test confirmed his DNA, he immediately proposed like a proper gentleman and started dreaming about converting the spare bedroom into a nursery.
Emily found his enthusiasm utterly adorable, and Mums vague doubts about Charlie couldnt spoil the picture. In the end, no one forced Mum and Charlie to live together.
What really irked Mum about Charlie became clear when their little Lucy turned one. He kept a steady job, but the thought of helping with a toddler was never even on the table. His own mother, Helen Hughes, kept fanning the flames by bragging about juggling two kids, a spotless home, and sprinting back to work right after giving birth. She flaunted the latest gadgets, yet ignored that both her children were placed in a nursery as soon as they were a few weeks old, with staff looking after them while the parents only had to pop in for feedings. After nursery came preschool, then a afterschool club that fed the kids and helped with homework. Helens contribution to household chores boiled down to making breakfast and doing the laundry even then their washing machine was a modest, notsohightech model. She presented that lifestyle as the gold standard.
Emily hit a snag straight away: there was no nursery in their town at all. Mothers of toddlers had to stay home roundtheclock, solving every crisis on their own. Some were lucky to have supportive husbands, others leaned on their own mothers, but Emilys mum lived in a different city and wasnt retired yet, so Emily was left to fend for herself and Lucy.
She still believed Charlie loved her and that their family was decent until the day the fire alarm blared while she was in the shower. It had happened twice before that year, both false alarms, and Charlie seemed to ignore it, so Emily shrugged off her shampoo, wrapped a towel around herself and went to investigate. She found the front door ajar, smoke pouring in from the stairwell, and Charlie nowhere in sight.
Like a flash of lightning she scooped Lucy into a blanket and bolted for the bedroom, then scrambled up to the loft and through to the neighbouring flat. Outside she ran into a bewildered Charlie, clutching his brandnew gaming PC, a professional video camera slung around his neck, and a tablet and phone poking out of his jacket pockets.
Bloody hell, she snarled. If Lucy hadnt been in her arms, she might have given the poor bloke a piece of her mind or more. She kicked him squarely in the shin, shouting like a dockworker, and was furious that instead of apologising or trying to explain, he started accusing Emily of losing her mind. He claimed hed simply forgot about his wife and child in the panic a classic excuse.
What really set off Emily was that his reflexes saved the laptop, the camera, the phone not the baby or his wife. Naturally, she filed for divorce. The next six months were a circus of her motherinlaw trying to reunite them, insisting they shouldnt break the family. Eventually Mum took Emily and Lucy back home.
Mum, you were right. I should never have gotten involved with Charlie, Emily admitted. Now I see why he could just walk away.
Mum chuckled, Remember when we met at the lift and that neighbours terrier, Archie, barked at us?
Archie? He barks at everything. His owner, Tom, never lets him off the lead, but the dogs a sweetie, just gets scared easily.
Exactly. When Archie startled us, you bolted off in a panic, leaving Charlie hanging. You didnt even try to pull him back to safety, even though you were already carrying his child.
Emily had once thought shed say, You know a lot about loving husbands and fathers, but after living through the mess she simply stayed silent, realizing it wasnt too late that the presence of a dad or husband automatically makes life better. Sometimes its easier to raise a child on your own than to stay with someone just for the pictureperfect façade.
She wont repeat those mistakes. And if Lucy someday starts asking why she grew up without a father, Emily will have an answer ready: a straightforward tale of a dad who, in an emergency, chose to save his laptop, phone, tablet and camera over his own family.
Will the next generation of fathers be replaced by gadgets, or will they finally muster the courage to ask their daughters for help? Probably not, and Lucy wont forgive that, but Emily certainly wont either.
